Sideboard (15)

this is a purist rogue tribal deck. it works by putting out cheap flyers and unblockables, boosting them, and triggering prowl effects. it also has a fun Dimir element that lets you force exiles and discards. with prowl costs included the deck's average mana cost drops from 2.63 to 2.26, so it's really a very aggressive deck.

Faerie Miscreant - underrated. a 1/1 flyer that seems too nonthreatening to counter or burn, but has a card-draw effect built in because people don't burn it. I don't know how many games I've won because of this card.

Vampire Cutthroat - not as reliable as the other one drops, but the lifelink is nice and it synergizes well with Stinkdrinker Bandit. if the other player doesn't have a 1-power card they can't block it, which lets it swing for 3 with lifelink when the buff triggers.

Stinkdrinker Bandit - a scary card whose one weakness is low toughness. with four flyers on the board Stinkdrinker can trigger an extra eight damage. that's absurd. sometimes worth playing for his regular cost, since that lets you get the buff on the turn you play him.

Oona's Blackguard - the most versatile creature in the deck. it can swing as a flier to activate prowl costs, it adds +1/+1 counters to all other creatures (except Oona) that come into play after it, and those creatures become discard engines as a result, giving it great synergy with the Dimir splash. really fun card.

Cloak and Dagger - a +2/+0 buff for two mana is solid, and makes it mana efficient. since none of the other boosters target the other rogues, shroud doesn't stop those effects from triggering, so it's basically as good as hexproof here. put it on creatures like Oona's Blackguard, Stinkdrinker Bandit and Sygg, River Cutthroat, cards that tend to draw removal, and remember that you can attach it to any rogue that comes into play, even if it's already been attached!

Oona's Prowler - a 3/1 flier for two is great in terms of mana efficiency, and the fact that enemy players will often be tempted to discard their own cards to nerf it gives it a fun synergy with the Dimir element of the deck. just make sure not to swing with it if the other player has strong fliers on the board; matchups Oona's Prowler might win or tie against can become losses on account of its discard effect.

Earwig Squad - probably the scariest nonlegendary creature here. a 5/3 bruiser for 3 mana that lets you take three spells out of the other player's deck. use the exile effect to remove win conditions, and be sure to add the extra from the sideboard against combo-heavy decks.

Gonti, Lord of Luxury - deathtouch is always nice, and the ability to play enemies' spells against them is fun. worth noting that Gonti doesn't need to be in play for you to use the card he exiles, so feel free to use him to kill big threats. once his on-play effect is procc'd his deathtouch can be used without guilt, which definitely adds value to the card.

Sygg, River Cutthroat - really good legendary. it's got a low mana cost, a high toughness that makes it an ok blocker, and its card draw effect synergizes well with Stinkdrinker Bandit, who lets any of your 1/1 fliers and unblockables swing for 3 damage. getting one of these on the board early ensures smooth gameplay and sets an aggressive tempo.

Notorious Throng - absurdly powerful. if you play it for its prowl cost it'll almost certainly win the game. keep in mind that each faerie will swing for 4 if you have a Stinkdrinker Bandit and an Oona's Blackguard on the field, so if you do five damage one turn, for example, you'll do an extra 20 damage on the next. sometimes you should play it for the regular cost though - better to end a game on turn four instead of waiting till turn six.

Oona, Queen of the Fae - at 5/5 flying it's the most powerful creature in the deck, though it lacks synergy with Stinkdrinker Bandit, Oona's Blackguard, and Cloak and Dagger since it isn't a rogue. its 6 mana cost is a little steep, and its effect can't trigger till the next turn, so it's a less reliable finisher than Notorious Throng. its great strength is that, once it's on the field, you always have a way to use up extra mana, and the rogues its active generates can easily end a game. also, if for some reason you can't get a good hit on the opponent, its active works regardless; it isn't on-hit dependent like Notorious Throng. (the Dimir synergy is also nice). consider swapping it out for more useful cards if the enemy deck isn't predominantly one color.

Sakashima the Impostor - not sure where else to put this guy. he's just fun. he's not even that good in this deck, I just like him. worth noting that if you use him to copy one of the Syggs you can draw an extra two cards a turn, which is awesome.

this isn't a perfect deck. it doesn't have any removal, it has a hard time dealing with other flying-based decks, and a lot of its cards are burnable. I try to address these problems in the sideboard with cards like Invisible Stalker and Knowledge Exploitation. there are some backups for cards that can be helpful in some situations, Earwig Squad for combo decks, Notorious Throng when you need that early win con, etc. I also added some cards that are really good against certain decks, Cold-Eyed Selkie for blue hate, Thada Adel, Acquisitor for artifact hate. but this deck is always going to have weaknesses. it's a rogue tribal deck. it's fun! that's what counts.

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